The other information I discovered is how the manatees are currently counted.

A synoptic survey is a statewide aerial survey designed to get a head count of individual manatees.

Scientists have been working for a while to find a better method for tracking the manatee population. It is fairly obvious by the annual numbers that there is a large fluctuation every time the scientists go out and try to count by flying overhead. Downgrading manatees should not even be considered until a more accurate method is put in place.